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Cited by 122Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional DevelopmentMaternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and PostpartumFamily Dynamics and Relationships

Reciprocal models of child behavior and depressive symptoms in mothers and fathers in a sample of children at risk for early conduct problems

Open access
Gross, Heather E., Shaw, Daniel S., Moilanen, Kristin L., Dishion, Thomas J., Wilson, Melvin N.·2008·Journal of Family Psychology
DOI 10.1037/a0013514PMC PMC2710142
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Abstract

Although much has been written about transactional models in the study of parenting practices, relatively few researchers have used this approach to examine how child behavior might be related to parental well-being. This study used latent growth curve modeling to test transactional models of age 2 child noncompliance, parental depressive symptoms, and age 4 internalizing and externalizing behaviors using a subsample of families in the Early Steps Multisite Study. In unconditional models, maternal depressive symptoms showed a linear decrease from child ages 2 to 4, whereas paternal depression did not show significant change. Observed child noncompliance at age 2 showed significant associations with concurrent reports of maternal depressive symptoms and trend-level associations with paternal depressive symptoms. For both parents, higher levels of initial depressive symptoms were related to increased age 4 child internalizing behaviors. The findings provide support for reciprocal process models of parental depression and child behavior, and this study is one of the first to present empirical evidence that fathers' depressive symptoms have bidirectional associations with their children's behavior in early childhood.

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  • Drop-out figures are reported in all but two studies, and missing data calculation is reported in a minority.

    “With regards to attrition rates, drop-out figures are reported in all but two of the studies (Fletcher et al. 2011;Gross et al. 2008) and the calculation of missing data to account for any potential bias of the dropouts is reported in a minority of studies”

    From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Gross et al. 2008

  • Four papers found no association between paternal depression and offspring externalizing behaviours (age 3.5 to 8 years).

    “Additionally, 4 papers (Hanington et al. 2012;Gross et al. 2008;Keller et al. 2009;Shelton & Harold, 2008) found no association between paternal depression and offspring (age range = 3.5 years to 8 years) externalizing behaviours.”

    From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Gross et al. 2008

  • Infant constitutional difficulties such as colic or dysregulated sleep may increase family stress, which can raise parental sleeplessness, distress and low mood, affecting parenting and making the baby more uncomfortable or difficult.

    “For instance, an infants' constitutional difficulties at any given time (e.g.colic, dysregulated sleep patterns) may contribute to family stress, which in turn may contribute to increased levels of parental sleeplessness, distress and low mood, which can affect parenting, and lead to babies becoming more uncomfortable/difficult (Gross et al., 2008;Hestbaek et al., 2014).”

    From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Gross et al., 2008

  • Evidence for bidirectional relationships between paternal depression and offspring characteristics may be limited.

    “although evidence regarding the existence of bidirectional relationships of paternal depression and offspring characteristics may be limited (Gross et al. 2008)”

    From The effects of paternal depression on child and adolescent outcomes: A systematic review (2016) · cites this paper as Gross et al. 2008

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3 of the 64 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Klimes-Dougan B Kopp C Children’s conflict tactics with mothers: A longitudinal investigation of the toddler and preschool years Merrill Palmer Quarterly 1999 45 226 242
  2. Sameroff A Cichetti D Cohen D General systems theories and developmental psychopathology Developmental psychopathology: Theory and methods 1995 Vol. 1 New York Wiley 659 695

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Authors
Gross, H. E., Shaw, D. S., Moilanen, K. L., Dishion, T. J., & Wilson, M. N.
Affiliations
  • University of Pittsburgh (US)
  • University of Oregon (US)
  • University of Virginia (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Family Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
2008
Volume
22
Issue
5
Pages
742-751
ISSN
  • 0893-3200 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1293
DOI
10.1037/a0013514
PMC
PMC2710142
OpenAlex
W2102666722
Cited by
122
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 9
FWCI
4.83
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Family Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA036832, K05DA025630, R01DA022773, R01DA023245, R01DA026222)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Maternal Mental Health During Pregnancy and Postpartum
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
Keywords
reciprocal model, transactional model, child noncompliance, parental depressive symptoms, maternal depression, paternal depression, child internalizing behavior, child externalizing problems, early childhood, bidirectional relationship, parental well-being
MeSH terms
Child Behavior Disorders, Child, Preschool, Cooperative Behavior, Depression, Education, Fathers, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Male, Mothers, Risk Factors, Child of Impaired Parents, Early Intervention, Educational, Conduct Disorder, Early Diagnosis

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